Mario Party DS
Mario Party DS (also called MPDS) is the fourteenth installment in the ''Mario Party'' series, the third for handheld consoles (with the others including Mario Party-e and Mario Party Advance, both being released on the Game Boy Advance handheld console), and the only one for the Nintendo DS. This is the last Mario Party game to be developed by Hudson Soft, who was succeeded by Nd Cube in 2012. The game is heavily based on the multiplayer aspect, and some consider the game boring if played alone. Players are allowed to choose a character from the Mario roster, though being on a handheld console the amount of playable characters is limited. Mario Party DS was re-released for the Wii U through the Virtual Console on April 21, 2016 in North America and Europe, April 22, 2016 in Australia, and April 27, 2016 in Japan. Story One night in the Mushroom Kingdom five Sky Crystals rained down in a meteor shower. One happened to land next to Mario and he kept it. The next day Mario tells Peach, Yoshi, Toad, Luigi, Wario, Daisy, and Waluigi of these crystals. Suddenly Kamek flies overhead and gives everyone an invitation from Bowser saying he is inviting everyone to a big feast at his castle as an apology for his evil schemes. Off in the jungle, Donkey and Diddy Kong also get their hands on this invitation and go off to Bowser's Castle in search of the promised feast. Upon entering the castle, Mario and his friends get locked into a cage by Bowser and Bowser Jr. who both demand the five sky crystals. When the gang refuses, Bowser, using his Minimizer, shrinks down the gang, takes the crystal, and orders Kamek to take them far away. They all then end up in front of Wiggler's Garden and they help Wiggler with its Piranha Plant problem. Wiggler presents them with a Sky Crystal. They decide to journey to the castle, but are stopped at Toadette's Music Room, DK's Stone Statue, and Kamek's Library, to help Toadette with her Hammer Bro. problem, free Donkey Kong from Dry Bones's magic, and free Koopa Krag from Kamek's Magic Book. Each time they are rewarded with a crystal and get one step closer to their goal. Finally they all arrive at the castle, but Bowser throws Mario and friends into his pinball machine. After a while in the machine, Donkey and Diddy Kong run in, in search of their feast, and they break the Minimizer. Suddenly, Mario and Co. grow to full size. Frustrated, Bowser pulls out his secret weapon, the Megamorph Belt. Bowser then becomes Blockhead Bowser and a member of the group fights him. After the battle with Bowser is over, the sky crystals form a crystal in the shape of a Nintendo DS. Mario and his friends forgive Bowser and they play Triangle Twisters together, signalling the end. Meanwhile, the Kongs happily eat the entire feast themselves. Characters Mario Party DS has 8 playable characters and 5 board hosts, with a boss for each board. Other characters with little to no role are also present. Playable *Luigi *Mario *Princess Daisy *Princess Peach *Toad *Wario *Waluigi *Yoshi Bosses *Piranha Plant (First boss) *Hammer Bro. (Second boss) *Dry Bones (Third boss) *Kamek (Fourth boss) *Bowser (Fifth boss) Board Hosts *Wiggler - Wiggler's Garden *Toadette - Toadette's Music Room *Donkey Kong/Diddy Kong - DK's Stone Statue *Kamek - Kamek's Library *Bowser - Bowser's Pinball Machine Other *Bowser Jr. *Donkey Kong *Koopa Krag *Goomba *Shy Guy *Whomp Menu *Puzzle Mode *Minigame Mode *Party Mode *Story Mode *Awards Mini-games Four player *Goomba Wrangler *Rail Riders *Dress for Success *Camera Shy *Hedge Honcho *Study Fall *Domino Effect *Cherry-Go-Round *Trace Cadets *Soccer Survival *Hot Shot *Call of the Goomba *Pedal Pushers *Roller Coasters *Get the Lead Out *Shortcut Circuit *Big Blowout *Trash Landing *Cheep Cheep Chance *Whomp a Thon *Twist and Route *Crater Crawl *Boogie Beam *Parachutin' Gallery *Boo Tag *Dust Buddies *Cyber Scamper *Soap Surfers *Sweet Sleuth *Tidal Fools *Raft Riot *All Geared Up 1 Vs. 3 Mini-games *Shuffleboard Showdown *Rotisserie Rampage *Fast Food Frenzy *Plush Crush *Penny Pinchers *Peek a Boo]] *Power Washer *Track Star *Flash and Dash *Rubber Ducky Rodeo *Nothing to Luge *Gusty Blizzard 2 Vs. 2 Mini-games *Soil Toil *Double Vision *Memory Mash *Cube Crushers *Mole Thrill *Sprinkler Scalers *Cucumberjacks *Hanger Management *Book It! *Airbrushers *Toppling Terror *Crazy Crosshairs *Shorty Scorers Battle Mini-games *Short Fuse *Cheep Chump *Star Catchers *Globe Gunners *Chips and Dips Boss Mini-games *Feed and Seed *Hammer Chime *Hexoskeleton *Book Bash *Bowser's Block Party Puzzle games *Mario's Puzzle Party *Bob-omb Breakers *Piece Out *Block Star *Stick and Spin *Frenzy Mode *Focus Mode List of stuff and collectibles #Mario: That round nose and bushy 'stache could only belong to everyone's favorite hero. He's ready to help Peach out of pinch anytime. #Luigi: He may be afraid of ghosts, he has hidden strengths that rival his brother Mario's. He's an all-around great guy and Mario's best pal. #Wario: That yellow shirt and purple overalls could only be worn by one guy, and that's Wario. Hold on to your cash and your garlic. He loves both. #Yoshi: He's everyone's favorite dino. He may be adorable, but he can gulp an enemy whole. And he came all the way from his island to party. #Peach: Peach is a world-class princess. She's classy, kind, and beautiful. And she never misses a party, especially if she knows Mario and friends there. #Daisy: Daisy is bright and cheerful in her unique way, and her fans adore her for it. She always make party more than lively. #Waluigi: This sly guy cuts a cool figure in his purple getup. And his dastardly cunning shows no equal. At least, that's what Waluigi tells himself. #Toad: He's hard-working Toad in the business. That's why Peach has come to rely on him so. He's go the can-do attitude that never says no. Mini-game Music Reception The game received a moderately good reception from the critics,receiving a 72 on Metacritic, 72.17% on GameRankings and a 33 (9,9,8,7) out of 40 from Famitsu. The game had rather strong sales in its first week in Japan, selling 234,708 copies in its first week. As of July 9, 2008, the game has sold 1,730,191 copies in Japan, according to Famitsu. It is the 18th best-selling game of 2008 in Japan. As of March 31, 2011, Nintendo has sold 8.21 million copies of the game worldwide. According to Famitsu, 2,112,000 of these sales came from Japan. Collection Mario Party DS features a wide variety of collectible items. These range between figurines of the many characters in the game, features of the five boards played on in the game, trophies related to the bosses defeated in the game and various badges one of which the player being allowed to equip. There are 30, 71, 25 and 30 of these respectively, each particular collectible with a different requirement to unlock. Pre-release and unused content In Mario Party DS, Wiggler's Garden was originally going to be called Petey's Greenhouse, where Petey Piranha would need help as a member of his army, a Piranha Plant, had betrayed him and begun to destroy his greenhouse. Toadsworth was also originally planned to appear as the owner of the item houses, but was replaced by a Monty Mole, although Toadsworth was still mentioned in some collectibles' descriptions in the Gallery. References to other games *''Super Mario Bros.'' - In the Call of the Goomba minigame, the grinder plays the overworld theme. The music for the Boogie Beam minigame is a remix of the underground theme. *''Super Mario World'' - The theme "Fresh as Mint" bears a heavy resemblance to the overworld theme from this game. *''Mario Party 3'' - Mario's Puzzle Party returns as a Puzzle minigame, and the character icons for Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Wario, Daisy, and Waluigi are reused in it as well. *''Mario Party 4'' - Bob-omb Breakers returns as a Puzzle minigame, and all the characters' victory and losing animations are recycled. *''Mario Party 5'' - Piece Out returns as a Puzzle minigame. *''Mario Party 6'' - Block Star returns as a Puzzle minigame. Also, Peach's and Daisy's artworks are recycled from this game. *''Super Mario 64 DS'' - Yoshi's artwork is a modified version of his artwork from this game, which depicts him holding Mario's Cap over his head. *''Mario Party 7'' - Stick and Spin returns as a Puzzle minigame. Also, Toadette's and Dry Bones' artworks are recycled from this game. *''Mario Party 8'' - The character select images are recycled from this game. *''New Super Mario Bros.'' - Hammer Bro.'s artwork is recycled from this game. *''Super Mario Galaxy'' - Toad and Kamek's artworks are recycled from this game. Trivia *This is the first Mario Party since Mario Party 4 to not have any Donkey Kong Spaces. *This is the second Mario Party without Koopa Kid (also known as Mini Bowser) at the Bowser spaces; the first was Mario Party 8. *This is also the first Mario Party game to not feature Toadette as a playable character. *The North American manual has a mistake on Page 27. It states that during a 2 Player game (the player vs a CPU opponent or another player) in Free Play, only Battle or Boss minigames can be chosen. In reality, during a 2 Player match in Free Play, only Duel and Boss minigames can be chosen. This was fixed in the European manual. *Two minigames, Shuffleboard Showdown and Chips and Dips, were removed in the Korean release, likely because of the gambling themes presented in both of the minigames. *Most of them are currently supporting. However, Birdo and Blooper never appeared in the game, but of them as references; the Birdo Egg in Memory Mash, and Blooper's name mentioned in the description of the item Kamek's Inkwell. *This is the only Mario Party game in which there are no Bonus Stars given out in the Story Mode. *This is the first and currently only Mario Party game not to have a visible host. *If a CPU has a Space Swap Hex or a Warp Dice Block, they'll never use it. External links *[http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/a8tj/index.html Mario Party DS Official Japanese website] *Official North American website *[http://ms2.nintendo-europe.com/mariopartyds/enGB/ Mario Party DS Official European website] ES: Mario Party DS Category:Mario games Category:Mario Party games Category:Nintendo DS games Category:2007 video games Category:Hudson Soft games Category:2008 video games Category:Games published by Nintendo Category:Virtual Console games (Wii U, Nintendo DS) Category:Nintendo games Category:Party games